CONSERVATISM FROM A FEMININE POINT OF VIEW

REMEMBERING THE 9/11 ATTACKS

I had been at work maybe twenty or thirty minutes when my office mate hung up from a telephone call and said, “Hey Nancy, a plane just hit one of the World Trade Center buildings.”

Terry had been on the phone with his wife (I can’t remember her given name), who had called him to tell him. We both tried to get some information from the Internet, but were unable to do so. Momentarily, Terry’s phone rang again and it was his wife again, telling him that another plane had hit the other tower. Terry, again, was the one who conveyed that information to me. By then we knew that something bad was happening and the whole office was buzzing, and no Internet was available. The conference room TV was turned on and we were told that we could watch what was happening.

We then learned about the plane crashing into the Pentagon and a plane that was thought to be heading toward the Capitol building had crashed in a Pennsylvania field.

While that day certainly changed our lives forever in many ways, some things do remain the same. The evil forces out to destroy our way of life failed, didn’t they. I went to church this morning, sang hymns, prayed, and listened to the message without fear of reprisal. Yesterday, I attended the Alabama vs. Western Kentucky football game. Instead of a purse, women must limit the items they carry in to the stadium to a rather small, clear plastic bag. There’s still college football, one of the greatest pleasures this nation has to offer, with very little changing.

Overall security is much tighter and flying on commercial airlines has changed dramatically. I don’t fly much anymore, but when I do, making sure I have everything in order is a big deal. For those who fly regularly, adaption was much easier.

In the decade preceding 9/11, there was very little military action, but after 9/11, that has not been the case. We’re continuously at war, and most of us have become desensitized to it. That’s not a good thing, but fighting terror is not like fighting a conventional enemy or another country. I often times wonder if we will ever conquer terrorism.

9/11 has undoubtedly changed our views regarding the culture and religion of Islam. Before 9/11, Muslims were Muslims, we weren’t afraid of them; nor did we look upon them as belonging to groups whose intentions were to kill Americans. I don’t see Muslims being viewed in the same light as they were before 9/11 in my lifetime.

Yes, there have been many changes in the United States of America in the last fifteen years and many of them not good. This article is not meant to be political, instead, the focus of this article is on actually little our lives have changed with respect to the 9/11 attacks.

Sometimes I wonder what the master minds and the minions of the 9/11 attacks, who are still alive, think about their plans to destroy our way of life. They failed miserably.